Tuesday, November 27, 2007

1.2 Myopia is a good thing?

Most if not all biological changes are for a good reason, i.e., they are not random processes. Development of myopia is no exception. A simplistic view is: Perhaps the collective human brain computes that when urbanized kids are growing up, they already need to work at close range, and the situation continues into the adulthood anyway, so it is advantageous for all to see clearly at near without the need for much accommodation. There may be some truth here. If you are a myope, take off your glasses/contacts, sit back, and look at the image below:

You can actually see more clearly the face of Mona Lisa. Isn't that interesting. The real da Vinci code! In other words, the edges of all the pixels are smoothed out. This maybe an advantage in the computer age?

Well, what about after you leave the office and try to drive home in the midst of a blizzard? And who's gonna fly the commercial/military airplanes or become your local firemen/policemen? Blurred distant vision is no longer so great, is it? Shouldn't the brain now tells the eyes to develop a different adjustable focusing mechanism as that in some cameras (the same lens moving in and out), just in case?

Perhaps the human brain/visual cortex is not all that smart. Or maybe it is: "Hey, not to worry, we have glasses, contacts, and LASIK..." Or as they say, evolution takes millions of years, if not longer. Yeah, right.

Current research is aimed at figuring out the myopization process and how to put a stop to it. There have been "progresses" on both fronts.